On public television stations nationwide, the award-winning FRONTLINE series aired a program on February 10th based on the work of noted surgeon and writer, Atul Gawande. In addition to Gawande’s many clinical and surgical talents, he has the rare gift of writing articles and books for all of us, no matter what our level of [...]Read More »

Don't miss President Obama speak on his #PrecisionMedicine Initiative at 11:10am ET → http://t.co/zcSZULoCno — The White House OSTP (@whitehouseostp) January 30, 2015 What is President Obama's 'precision medicine' plan, and how might it help you? http://t.co/T8sXHBGWm0 — Shelley Fuld Nasso (@sfuldnasso) January 30, 2015 Beautiful post by @drdonsdizon. Palliative care does not mean hospice [...]Read More »

Guest post by Lillie D. Shockney, RN, BS, MAS, Director of Johns Hopkins Breast Center and Cancer Survivorship Programs. On November 19, 2014, NCCS will present the Catherine Logan Award for Service to Survivorship to Lillie at the Focus on the Care evening reception in Washington, DC. Though more and more cancer patients are being diagnosed [...]Read More »

Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old woman with brain cancer who became an advocate for the “death with dignity” movement took her life this week. Marcia Angell wrote about “The Brittany Maynard effect: How she is changing the debate on assisted dying” in The Washington Post, as did Sarah Kliff in “Brittany Maynard and the debate about [...]Read More »

This week, several articles caught our eye: Amy Berman shared her own experience “Choosing Wisely” when she opted for a single dose of radiation therapy to alleviate pain from bone metastases, instead of a course of 10 treatments. The Kaiser Family Foundation reported that 89% of uninsured individuals polled are not aware that the next open [...]Read More »

About Our Blog:

Building on more than a quarter of a century of achievements and leadership in cancer care and survivorship policy efforts, NCCS's Cancer Policy Blog "Cancer Policy Matters" is a resource for policy makers, health care experts, patient advocates, the media, and other groups that are interested in cancer policy issues.